Joshua Edward Smith – Duality

REVIEW

If you read the first book in this series, you can understand how it was nearly impossible not to start reading this book. Fortunately, I had the pleasure of not having to wait between finishing book 1 and book 2.

Book 2 continues with a flare of originality. In the sea of many repetitive books, I give a lot of credence to the newness of the material. Also, the heat is turned up a bit higher in book 2.

Following a 10 month time lapse in the story between book 1 and book 2, the relationship between Lisa and Sir takes on a physical relationship.

Sir’s personality or needs (I’m not even quite sure what the proper reference word would be) is not very likable. That is not intended to be a negative about the book. Hatred for a character makes for a good read sometimes. I admit to having hopes that Sir would eventually redeem himself. I’ll keep that opinion to myself. I will say that I do believe that Sir’s final moments seem to be out of character. I had a difficult time reconciling his final choices.

There is a large cast of characters in this book. I would have liked to have had the chance to know Annie a bit more.

BLURB

Lisa and Sir have finally managed to balance their kinky love life with the vanilla world of suburbia. But when Sir starts training a sexy young submissive, the strength of his relationship with Lisa is tested. Could polyamory be the key to maintaining the stability Lisa needs while giving Sir the variety he craves? This captivating sequel to Entropy is a provocative journey through the complex world of physical and virtual sexuality.

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2 thoughts on “Joshua Edward Smith – Duality”

I honestly had no intention of writing a sequel to Entropy. I didn’t feel like the first book ended on a cliffhanger. It was just a neat place to end, kind of like the way they ended the Sopranos in that diner. Undefined, but full of possibility. Clearly, I was wrong, and my readers told me that I simply had to write a sequel.

One of the things I noticed in the reviews and discussions I had with Entropy readers was that almost 100% of them adored Sir. And I realized that’s because he was only really a sketch of a character in the first book. (My sister told me she wondered if he was going to turn out being a schizophrenic delusion of Lisa’s.) That allowed readers to project only good, admirable qualities onto him.

So in Duality, I decided to make him human. Flawed in the ways that men are flawed. Wandering eye. Jealousy. Detachment. All the things you women hate about us, but mixed with the things so many women love—those “alpha” characteristics, and the mentoring, fatherly instinct. And I fully expected my readers to despise him. And a few did, but not many.

For example, an early beta reader was talking with me about the scene early on where he is in the cafe “bird watching.” Lusting after the young women. I assume that’s one of the “total jerk” scenes you tweeted about. And this particular beta reader told me that the fact that he was self-aware (“I should probably grow the f— up”), redeemed him in her eyes. She was willing to forgive him no matter what. So after that, I took the gloves off and just let him be completely human. As you said, it’s okay if not all your characters are completely likable, right?

Absolutely. As a reader, I sometimes find unlikable characters more interesting to read than saccharine characters. One of the things that bothered most about Sir was the fact that while he was spending so much time online or in reality with these women, he wasn’t spending time with his kids. I realize that fiction doesn’t need to be realistic, but seriously what parent has that much time? 😉